James, What type of distribution piping do you have? How old is your piping and/or house? I would assume you have galvanized piping and I have heard of this happening after adding a softener, the buildup is breaking down. You could invest in an relativly inexpense water filter (Click on link) Home Depot sells one similar. Then you can buy adaptors to change the pipe thread connections to garden hose type threads. Then just screw on the filter. You'll be able to continue washing without worring about the filter clogging up reight away. If sediment gets into the washing machine solenid valve, it will be a costly repair. Happy Washing, Dan Martyn Here is a link that might be useful: Omni Water Filters

There are numerous ways to obtain water for a private system. You can dig, bore or drill a well. If ground conditions are right, you can even drive a pipe into the ground until it reaches water bearing strata which often consists of sand or fine gravel. The unit on the end of the pipe is a screened pickup. The pipe itself is plumbed directly to the pump. There is no well casing. The pipe is its own well casing. Check the PDF in the link below. The screen on sandpoints are often quite course in order to keep from plugging up. If they do plug, you're screwed. You have to try back-washing them in the hopes of clearing the screen. If that does not work, you have to drive a new well in a different location but if the strata is the same all over your property, then it's only a matter of time before it happens again. The course screen allows large particulate to enter the water system. Sometimes this is a temporary issue and it will clear itself with continuous pumping. Local well drillers are the best source of information regarding such issues and the OP should probably consult them. It could be that the only solution to this problem is to go to a different type of well that is deeper. She may need to get water from 80 feet or 150 feet or 300 feet below grade in order to find an acquifer that is free from the contaminants that she is forced to deal with currently. In most places, you must disclose whether you have adequate potable water in sufficient quantity to meet the needs of the home being sold. If you lie about it, you can be sued successfully for all the costs associated with remedying the problem so it isn't something to take lightly. The local health branch can condemn a house and put a stop to occupancy if there isn't proper sanitation available. It seems to me that the real problem lies with the water-bearing strata that the sandpoint is pulling water from. There may be no end to the crud that is flowing past the sandpoint. There is no way of knowing one way or the other. She could hire a well driller to put a pump directly on the well pipe and pump it non-stop for a couple of days to see what comes out and if it is increasing, decreasing or constant. Periodic examinations of the residue left after pouring a five gallon pail of water through filter media will give you an idea as to what is happening. Doing that should give the OP some clue as to what direction to go in. In the interim though, I would be hauling the local Culligan Man's butt back to the home to figure out WHY his solution to her problem isn't working. If he cannot produce what he originally promised then he should remove what he sold her, put her system back to the way it was previously and refund her money in full. The error was his, not hers. It's just that simple. Here is a link that might be useful: sandpoint wells

Some of my experiences cleaning sediment out of a hot water tank, in this case, powered by electricity: The first time was about three years ago. I started to drain the tank in preparation for replacing the burned-out lower heat element. I had attached a garden hose as most instructions tell you to do. At first the water (quite black with sediment) drained out as expected, but in a minute or two, it slowed to a trickle; I was sure the tank could not yet be empty. I soon discovered the outlet valve was plugged, and eventually removed it to get the water running again, directing it to the basement drain across a plastic sheet fashioned into a sort of trench with sides made of some short 2x4s and bricks under the plastic. The sediment came out in chunks up to 3/4" across. They were easily crumbled, but nevertheless had been solid enough to impede water flow through the valve. I reattached the valve, but felt that wasn't good enough. Following some advice from somewhere on the web, I purchased a brass nipple and ball valve from a local plumbing store and installed them to replace the original plastic valve. The inner diameter was now larger and without bends, so less likely to clog. That helped quite a lot. Meanwhile I had removed the old element. So I had an extra access hole available. I rigged up a piece of 1" plastic pipe to the end of my shop-vac hose and was able to insert that into the element hole and pull out a substantial amount of sediment. I also was able to insert a garden hose into the same element hole and flush out more sediment through the new valve outlet. I'm sure I never got it completely clean, but at least the escaping water was now clean and running freely. I installed the new heat element, and all has been fine since then, except of course, I would like to be able to do a proper regular cleaning without removing that heat element. Since that time, I have tried to remember to flush out the tank every six months or so. It hasn't been completely satisfactory, but I think if it's done regularly, at least the build-up won't be too great. Just today, I had some trouble even with that better brass valve. It became clogged as the other one had before. This time I found a good remedy in a length of 3-wire 10-gauge soft-coated electrical cable. It seemed to have just the right amount of flexibility and stiffness. Poking that through the valve and into the tank removed the obstacle. I'm thinking that for my next cleaning, I will try to attach a piece of narrow tubing to the end of a garden hose and push it into the outlet valve to do some back-flushing. At least I'm lucky in a way to have an old unfinished basement with a concrete floor and a big drain hole. Spills are not much of a problem. I'm very happy too with my makeshift "trench" which works very well to take the outflowing water to the drain. It cannot clog like a hose, and I'm even able to make a dam to catch the sediment by means of a simple fold in the plastic sheet.

I've seen well water a lot harder than yours. Based on the (limited) info you posted your water conditions far exceed the ability of box store softeners. Questions... Why a sediment filter? Having problems with sediment or just thought it was a good idea? What (physical) size is the filter? Whirlpool whole house filter filtering what? is it a whole house carbon filter? Seems that the OKC Health department tested for potability, but not aesthetics which is what concerns you now. I'm hoping they tested for bacteria as there was no result. You should find out. You need to test for iron (ferrous and ferric), manganese, arsenic, copper, sodium. We need to know the diameter of the plumbing at the softener installation location. We need to know the SFR of the plumbing... here's how Calculating Your Service Flow Rate You will need a watch with a second hand and a 1 or 5 gallon container to measure your flow rate with the instructions below. 1. Using the bathtub as the measuring point, open BOTH the hot and cold water faucets completely open. If your tub has a single faucet then find a hose bib near the water entrance to the home. If on a well a hose bib after your pressure tank and before the old softener. 2. If you have a well water supply, wait until the pump kicks on before continuing. 3. Place either a 1 or 5 gallon container under the faucet and measure the amount of time it takes to fill the container in seconds. You can forget the idea of a Fleck 5600 cause your softener will be far bigger than a 5600 can run.